Sprint Data Plan Price Drops After Just 2 Weeks

(Reuters) - Sprint Nextel (S.N) cut broadband wireless prices for its fastest data service customers after just two weeks to better compete with rivals AT&T Inc (T.N) and Verizon Wireless in the holiday shopping season.

Sprint on Monday began charging $50 a month for 6 gigabytes of data downloads to tablets, mobile hotspots or laptop data cards running on its fastest service, which runs on the Clearwire Corp (CLWR.O) mobile network.

This compares with the $60-a-month fee for 5 gigabytes of data that Sprint started charging on Nov 1, when it eliminated unlimited-use plans for its WiMax broadband customers, making its service more expensive than that of its bigger rivals.

Sprint, the No. 3 U.S. mobile provider, has been working to recoup subscriber losses by positioning itself as a provider for more cost-conscious customers than its rivals.

Monday's change means that Sprint customers will get a gigabyte more data for the same price as the fee paid by customers of Verizon Wireless and AT&T, which both charge $50 a month for 5 gigabytes.

Sprint's move, which does not apply to smartphone customers, comes ahead of the holiday shopping period, often the carrier's busiest time of the year.

Verizon Wireless, a venture of Verizon Communications (VZ.N) and Vodafone Group Plc (VOD.L), tried to position itself better for the holidays with a promotional rate that doubled its subscribers' data allowances. [ID:nN1E7A61V7]

Sprint still offers service plans with unlimited data usage for a flat fee to its smartphone customers.

Sprint also cut its price for heavier data users with an $80 per month plan for 12 gigabytes of data compared with its previous offer of 490 for 10 gigabytes of data. In comparison, Verizon Wireless charges $80 a month for 10 gigabytes of data. (Reporting by Sinead Carew; editing by Gunna Dickson)
Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for Restrictions.

Comments

[Sam-I-Am]

12:03 PM on 11/15/2011

Sprint needs to get more creative in their marketing because they're behind AT&T and Verizon and have been bleeding red ink for years. If they can get the other two to follow their example we all win.

[sophronia]

11:02 AM on 11/15/2011

Really they need to lower their monthly costs for smartphones. The monthly charges are what are holding us back from upgrading. It isn't the cost for the phones upfront--it is the ungodly charges for 2 of us to have unlimited data plans with even an entry level smartphone. Sprint's network is pretty good, and much of it is 4G. If they want to truly compete as the "value network" they need to figure out how to lower the monthly cost for a 2 year contract.

[ingua2]

07:02 AM on 11/15/2011

It's Sprint... just like Tim Cook.. irrelevant.

[questiontheblogs]

08:29 AM on 11/16/2011

Well, that is just an ignorant statement.

[hanspij]

04:56 AM on 11/15/2011

Wow. are you paying that much?
You better run to europ.lol. at least half the price or even better.But we have indeed much more competition.Not 3 or 4 but 50 or more to pick your abbo from. And even free web in many places.And iam talking about wireles acces.

[Angilena Christopher]

01:12 AM on 11/15/2011

I agree with " Kenz300 " Competition is very important in the Cell Phone Industry we need cheaper rate no merger gov. should stop the mergers at-least take a price for any merger, Because the mergers are making them rich and creating issues for the Public..........http://www.365socialmedia.co.uk/

[Kenz300]

12:17 AM on 11/15/2011

We need more competition in the phone industry. No more mergers.

Capitalism only works when there is competition.

[anchises868]

12:36 AM on 11/15/2011

Except that the competition that drives innovation and efficiency is itself an inefficiency. Eventually, companies that can grow take advantage of economies of scale to eliminate competition. It's a natural function of capitalism.

[Kenz300]

12:41 AM on 11/15/2011

Except when it becomes a monopoly and sets prices for "excessive" profits.

We have that problem now with health care. There are too few providers in each state to offer true competition.

[ingua2]

07:06 AM on 11/15/2011

Steve Jobs didn't believe in that. Competition made him a tyrant and did little to foster innovation at Apple over these past 2-3 years. Lion.. a buggy joke. iOS5.. unsuccessfully copied Android and a buggy joke.. AppleTV.. HAHA.. 4S.. a battery-hogging with ipad2 guts in an old case.... siri, a beta that people stopped using a week after the initial "fart app" party jokes ran dry.

Apple is a prime example of how competition is bad for a corporation, so they're just focusing on capitalism through word of mouth.

[Thomas River]

07:18 AM on 11/15/2011

You know, you could just cut and paste "I_Hate_Apple" and save yourself a lot of typing.

[gregrob]

11:29 PM on 11/14/2011

"490 for 10 gigabytes of data"

Let's see, first you miss the shift key, then you don't proof read... unless Sprint really is charging $490 for 10 Gig.

[brandon20678]

10:13 PM on 11/14/2011

Sprint sold out to Apple bad Decision

[HuddledMasses]

07:34 PM on 11/14/2011

Okay, I'm really po'd now. We've been with Sprint for almost ten years. Up until a year and half ago we had no problems and like our plan very much.
The summer before last we added my son to our plan. We pay on time as we always did. After the initial call I made to add another line and get the phone, about four or five people called me from sprint the next few days. When they called I would tell them that I already added a line and upgraded our plan. Turns out that almost everyone of those people that called from SPrint took credit for our new line and upgrade. And all but one sent out the same phone. I kept sending them back and kept calling about it. I don't think we ever really got it straightened out as we paid way more than our normal bill should've been for about six months. I'm figuring it's because of those extra darned phones they sent.
They charge us to send picture mail. Which I've called about and was told over and over again that we should NOT be charged for that. But we still charged everytime. Now they're getting rid of the the specials,. etc for preferred customers like us that's been with them for a decade! If you join them now you get free data with most of them. But they won't let us get it. SOon as our contract is up we are OUT!

[Tmboy]

11:05 PM on 11/14/2011

1) Where will you go if you are out. Stop calling and go to the store. For the plan you are getting now consider how much you will be paying elsewhere. Its better to go to a spring to to settle thins because when you doing this by phone its hard to hold people accountable

[HuddledMasses]

01:12 PM on 11/15/2011

Duh...of course I've considered how much I'll pay elsewhere. That's one of the reasons we're leaving SPrint. Smart Talk seems to be the one we'll go for. You get unlimited EVERYTHING for a low price. And yes, I've checked to see if it's a good company. We know several people that have Smart Talk for about a year and they love it. They price hasn't gone up and they get everything included even unlimited data. Going to store won't help. We've tried that. What about my first post made you think I was an i d i o t?

[k-watanabe]

07:32 PM on 11/14/2011

6GB... whoopie... that's about one, just one HD movie from NetFlix...

Sure, I can watch more of them at standard def... but then what's the point of having a highres screen (retina this, and HD that...) and feed it with lowres data?

[Tmboy]

11:10 PM on 11/14/2011

That's 1G more than the other companies are offering what are you complaining about.

[cdub1991]

11:32 PM on 11/14/2011

You stream HD over 3G? Probably not the best use of bandwidth. Just sayin...

[pgazac]

07:27 PM on 11/14/2011

Price drop? What's that?